21 A long overdue shower

On the way around to the front, Finn picked up the crossbow he had dropped when he fell. He was relieved to see it wasn't broken. He had tried to cushion it with his body as he fell.

At the front of the warehouse, Mortimer was nervously waiting along with a small group of curious neighbors.

When they saw Finn come out they cheered, until they saw that he was covered in blood. Mortimer cautiously approached and asked if he was ok and how the task went.

'I'll be ok' said Finn weakly. 'I exterminated six rats in the warehouse no problem. Then one twice the size of those appeared, which is how I got injured. Its body is in the alley near the shed.'

'So it's all cleared out then? The rats are gone?' Probed Mortimer.

'Most likely. I'll do a final check to make sure, as well as find where they came from.' Said Finn. He knew that if he put in the effort now, his report at the guild would look a lot better.

Too sore to climb, Finn followed Mortimer to the other entrance. As they passed the dead rat in the alley Mortimer was shocked.

'That thing is huge!' He exclaimed, 'I've never seen or heard of one this big.'

At the door, Finn readied his crossbow with another broadhead-tipped bolt before going in. Mortimer took out a simple wand and followed him fearfully.

The wand had a simple earth element spell which was occasionally used in construction. It would create a small mound of hard packed dirt at the target location.

After exploring the whole warehouse without any incidents, they found the tunnel which the rats had used to enter. It was short enough for Finn to see its end.

Just as he had suspected, the rats had come from the sewers, there was another large hole where familiar unpleasant odor came from.

Mortimer made quick work of blocking the tunnel, filling it entirely with dirt conjured by the wand.

The task done, Mortimer signed the required guild document before handing over 8 silver coins. Mortimer had already payed the deposit of 20% to the guild when he made the request, but that wouldn't go to Finn.

'Young man, thank you for your help today, the task turned out more dangerous than predicted. That extra large rat should have increased the difficulty to D.' said Mortimer as they finished up.

After a short silence, he kept talking.

'I never was good enough at magic to fight or join the mages guild, otherwise I might have handled this myself.'

Unsure where the conversation was going, Finn politely waited for him to continue.

'Have you learned any magic?' Mortimer asked.

'No' said Finn, 'never had the chance'

'Ok good, then you might appreciate this. As an extra thank you, and to make up for the danger of the unexpected rat king, I'd like to give you this small booklet.'

Taking it out, he handed it to Finn as he explained what it was.

'This booklet is a short introduction to a simple spell called "Mage hand" and can teach you how to cast it. I've already memorized everything in it so you don't have to feel bad about taking it.'

The booklet was small enough to fit in a pocket, and consisted of a few pages wrapped in a well worn blue leather cover. The cover had an image of a hand in what used to be silver, but now looked more like an off-white color.

Finn was ecstatic, and would probably have sat down to study it immediately if he wasn't on a job. Tucking it carefully away, Finn couldn't help but grin as he thanked Mortimer. Then he hobbled as fast has he could back towards the guild, wincing every now and then from the pain.

Chuckling at Finn's behavior, Mortimer waved him off as he remember his own youth and when he first found that booklet. Turning around, he also left. He would need to hire some workers to clear out the bodies and clean the place.

It was evening when Finn arrived at the guild headquarters. His wounds didn't bother him as much now. They still hurt, but it seemed his body was getting used to the pain.

Flashing his badge to the shocked guard as he went, Finn realized he needed to wash off the blood. No wonder he was getting some weird looks on the way back.

When Finn entered the lobby where he first got his trainee badge, his acquaintances responded in different ways when they noticed his wretched condition.

Mürstein laughed, asking him if he had gotten into a fight with a bear. The bartender looked concerned and polished his mugs with extra enthusiasm as he offered a special discount on healing beverages. Petrosilinus told Finn to go clean up before handling any business.

The training facilities had private bathing stalls where members could rinse off after an intense workout. Making use of his badge, Finn could access the simplest kind. It was a small room with an enchanted bucket, it would refill itself after being emptied.

As he cleaned off the blood, Finn examined his wounds. Again, Finn was surprised by how far the healing has progressed. The the three deepest cuts were along his left arm. After he rinsed them some gross dark blood was washed away leaving what looked like shallow cuts.

Surprised, Finn carefully cleaned and examined his other wounds. All the wounds had healed from the inside pushing out the bacteria and filth of the rat. After that was rinsed away, all that was left was shallow cuts on the surface. What was extra baffling was that even the wounds without the chewed up herbs had healed. Out of curiosity, Finn used his finger to put a little pressure on his ribs.

'Argh!!!' The pain immediately came back and he almost passed out. It seemed like broken bones took longer to heal, but that was normal. What wasn't normal was how fast his muscles and skin healed.

Making use of the opportunity, Finn washed his clothes and hung them up to dry. Putting on a simple training outfit provided by the guild, Finn went back to the lobby. It was time to submit his report.